Ethiopia’s Alemayehou Named Among 100 Global Tech’s Changemakers

Ethiopia’s Kazana Group chairman, Addis Alemayehou, has been named in the Rest of the World (RoW)’s 100 Global Tech’s Changemakers list 2022 in recognition to his contribution for the growth of a range of sectors.

Addis is recognized as a household name in Africa’s business and entrepreneurship landscape with Ethiopia as the genesis of his long and successful business career. Kazana Group is a holding company that currently holds a portfolio with an array of industries and sectors, notably in marketing, communications, advertisement, fintech, telecom, manufacturing, logistics, technologies, and investment management & advisory.

From tech leaders, innovators and investors to activists RoW identifies people outside Silicon Valley and the west, whose efforts directly impact countries where the majority of the world’s population lives.

Earlier this year, RoW set out to find 100 of the most influential, innovative, and trailblazing personalities in fintech, e-commerce, policy, digital infrastructure, and a range of other sectors that intersects with and influence technology for its inaugural RoW100: Global Tech’s Changemakers.

To put together the list, the organization researched individuals in each regional ecosystem who have made an outsized contribution to their sectors while facing logistical, financial, and political challenges that come with building something groundbreaking within those communities.

The founder and CEO of 251 Communications, Addis began from a humble three-people marketing agency 10 years ago to remarkably grow the company as one of the leading PR and communications firms in Ethiopia with a clear goal of providing world-class communications and marketing services for various private as well as public clients, among which are several multinational corporations and international organizations.

Having become a marketing and communications veteran, Addis expanded his outreach outside of Ethiopia by co-founding Africa Communications Media Group (ACG), the first African-owned, pan-African agency handling communication for global clients in the African setting.

Addis is also a co-founder and shareholder of a trailblazing private entertainment television station in Ethiopia called KANA TV in partnership with MOBY Group, based in Dubai. A year after launch, KANA TV had gained a 34% market share and 8 of the top 10 highest rated prime time shows were aired on the channel. Addis’s passion for media had already been manifested when he launched the first all-English radio station in Ethiopia, dubbed Afro FM, back in 2008.

Since 2016, Addis has held the role of Senior Advisor at Albright Stonebridge Group, a global business strategy firm based in Washington D.C. where he uses his expertise in communications, telecom, and other key sectors to support client engagements across East Africa.

Together, the individuals featured on the Global Tech’s Changemakers list (RoW100: Global Tech’s Changemakers) influences how products are made and distributed, how entrepreneurs are funded, and how tech is regulated and its users protected far beyond their local markets.